Futuregazing – Euroheaven or Eurohell? - The Conscientious Citizen’s Objective Guide to the United Kingdom's European Union Referendum

By Ian Yenney

An objective, comprehensive, balanced and spin-free analysis of the UK's EU referendum by a conscientious citizen. Having thought extensively about this over the last few years, I offer my alternative review. Most of my thoughts have been built up using basic logic, simple concepts, historical examples and vivid analogues where possible to the exclusion of complex modelling or obscure statistics and I’m always keen to acknowledge uncertainty where I believe it exists. As a regular citizen in search of truth, and someone with little other motive beyond the best interest of UK citizens, this is my attempt to provide an informative take on the issues that matter.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: May 25, 2016
• ISBN: 9781365135521

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Futuregazing – Euroheaven or Eurohell? - The Conscientious Citizen’s Objective Guide to the United Kingdom's European Union Referendum

Futuregazing – Euroheaven or Eurohell? The Conscientious Citizen’s Objective Guide to the United Kingdom's European Union Referendum

C:\Users\Ian\Documents\Sustainability\Topics\Political change\EU\Pics\Header finished.jpg

By Ian Yenney

Copyright

Copyright © 2016 by Ian Yenney

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review or scholarly journal.

First Printing: 2016

ISBN: 978-1-365-13552-1

https://www.lulu.com/

https://ukeureferendum.wordpress.com/

Preface

The UK’s relationship with the EU is an issue of incredible significance, due to the wide reaching influence that EU membership has on so many areas of our lives, and the direction of EU travel.

In terms of the long term impact on the lives of UK residents, this is perhaps the biggest single issue of our time, except sustainability/environment degradation, and the UK public is confronted with an opportunity to pass judgement on this state of affairs in 2016. It is human nature to assume that your current opinion is right and avoid challenging it, but this is far from a healthy state of affairs. Whatever you currently think, it is in all of our interests to give the European system a thorough critical review, asking fundamental questions and challenging common preconceptions. To not do so for such a big issue would do a major disservice to ourselves and to our descendants. Challenging our opinions also helps ensure that our personal intent aligns with desired outcomes – are we really supporting the right team?

With that in mind, my aim is to take the reader on a journey from Euro-history through to Euro-future. This wide ranging discussion will attempt to get to the heart of and objectively analyse the critical (and sometimes rarely discussed) issues and outline the likely long term impacts of the status quo (or otherwise) on the UK and Europe.  I use basic logic, simple concepts, historical examples and vivid analogues where possible to the exclusion of complex modelling or obscure statistics and I’ve tried to acknowledge uncertainty where I believe it exists.

We’ll touch on the nature of the European and UK establishments, the Greek crisis, inequality, the life opportunities for different groups in society, migration, security, the impact of state size, world stability and a variety of other financial, environmental and social impacts. The most fundamental of questions will be considered, for instance: does the EU have tangible benefits that improve people’s lives in peripheral (and in our case strong) regions?; how is Europe likely to be in tens to hundreds of years time if it continues along the same path?; and "is global political diversity a good thing (and do large states or federations suppress that)?

There are several lines of argument that I’ve not seen elsewhere, and many that the mainstream debate will largely omit; some could have relevance far beyond this particular UK EU referendum debate.

The media and the rest of the establishment will present various polarised arguments, largely of an economic nature. Many correspondents will have made their mind up about the issue based on minimal analysis and maximum spin. Do they really give sufficient attention to opposing arguments to be trusted as an objective guide to the EU issue? Do they have any particular vested interests that give them tunnel vision?

Although of course no-one is immune from bias, I believe that this is a comprehensive, balanced and spin-free review. I have no strong vested interests, apart from perhaps a desire to hang onto the good things that we currently possess, and reduce the impact of bad things we are affected by. By, we I mean, all the different groups of people I belong to from my immediate family or neighbours right through to the entirety of the human race. I consider myself simultaneously to be connected to be my local community, English, British, European and a citizen of the world. In terms of UK politics, I’m a floating voter with views that vary with issues and no strong affiliation to any party or ‘wing’. I felt compelled to write this, outlining my thoughts, because I care about the issue, and as a means to understand it better and/or help others to understand it better. I did try my best to investigate, openly acknowledge and give fair weighting to both sides of each topic prior to drawing conclusions.

The key issues for me are not economic, but the ongoing viability of the EU institution, the distance between voters and elected officials (and the ability of the former to hold the latter to account), and most importantly the raft of impacts on different parts of our society.

Whatever your current opinion, please take a read, preferably with an open mind! I start with a useful summary table which will give you a taste of the topics discussed and my analysis without subjecting you to the entirety of the writing. This refers back to the main body of text so that you can hone in on the topics that most interest you, or hopefully take away something to ponder regardless of the amount of time you have to spare.

Acknowledgements

This is a wide ranging study and thanks are due to everyone that I’ve ever met, those whose writings I’ve read, those whose presentations I’ve observed, and those whose thought processes I’ve absorbed. Family, friends, teachers, lecturers, colleagues, passing acquaintances, well-known personalities and even strangers - you’ve all contributed to my life in different ways and made me the person I am today. In particular, discussions with my parents, uncles and aunts have helped inspire my interest in these topics and fed into much of the content described. This is my sincere contribution to the UK’s EU referendum debate.

Summary of issues and reference to main text